


Plan B

by bachelorgirl



Category: High School Musical
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-02-13
Updated: 2009-02-13
Packaged: 2017-10-14 20:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/152981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bachelorgirl/pseuds/bachelorgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in the middle of HSM3. Chad is a man with a plan. It's a "how they got together" kind of fic. Told by both Chad and Ryan, it's like two separate stories being told at the same time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Plan B

**Rehearsal – Ryan**

"I can't believe that Miss Darbus is letting those... those..." Sharpay was pulling piles of flowing, colourful fabric out of a costume trunk and throwing all of the unacceptable pieces - which was every one that she'd pulled out so far - over her shoulder without a second glance.

"Classmates?" Ryan supplied, but quickly snapped his mouth shut when his sister glared at him.

" _Proletariats_ ," she continued, pulling her hair up into a high ponytail on top of her head and snapping the elastic loudly in punctuation, "invade my - our - drama department. Again. Did she learn nothing from last year?"

Ryan rolled his eyes. It was just like his sister to try and make sure she was the best at everything that was even remotely competitive. Not even her SAT Prep course had been an exception to that rule.

"I mean, what are they even doing?" Sharpay wrapped a long piece of sky blue fabric dramatically around her shoulders. "I mean, look at the shaggy haired mess over there."

Ryan looked over to where Jason was standing, attempting to knot the tie he was supposed to be wearing during the prom number.

"They don't want to be here. We don't want them here. And, yet, here we are. All of us. The whole thing is so... so..." Sharpay snapped her fingers in an attempt to pull the word she was looking for out of the air.

"Incongruous?" Ryan raised his eyebrows. He had plenty of five-dollar words of his own. He'd taken the same, very expensive, prep class. Even though, thankfully, Julliard wasn't going to look at his SAT score. Assuming he got in.

"It's just wrong!" she shrieked, throwing her hands in the air, along with five or six brightly-coloured pieces of fabric.

Ryan rolled his eyes. He loved his sister, he really did, but sometimes she was enough to drive even him just a little bit crazy.

She stormed around the stage, stilettos clacking on the floor of the stage, pulling apart every piece of scenery, trying to find her missing headband. "And, don't even get me started on the good-for-nothings that we have working tech. Would it _kill_ them to put things back where they go so we can find them when we need them? Apparently. Apparently it would. Which is why I can't -- Suzanne! Suzanne!" Sharpay had eyed a member of the tech crew. "Someone had better find my blue hairband or someone from costumes better start sewing! Rehearsal starts in 3 minutes and you know how I feel about being unprepared for rehearsal."

Ryan watched as the poor girl raced off stage and behind the curtain; her unfortunate brown and yellow faux-cashmere sweater with the lopsided argyle disappearing in a blur as she raced to do his sister's bidding.

He counted to ten in his head and started mentally reviewing the choreography to "A Night to Remember" while he stretched out his shoulders to try and block out Sharpay as she continued to loudly pace the stage. It helped.

"Gather 'round, everyone," Ryan heard Miss Darbus call, her clapping hands ringing through the theatre.

The drama kids snapped to immediate attention, but there was still some muttering from the basketball corner of the room where they were excitedly whispering about something. He could hear his sister huffing impatiently behind him.

Miss Darbus smiled a everyone, stopping to wink at Ryan. "Time to make the magic happen."

* ~ * ~ *

 **Rehearsal – Chad**

"I hate you." Chad looked Troy in the eye and tried his very best to sound like he meant it. "I mean it."

"No you don't," Troy replied, tying his shoe.

"I do. This entire thing," Chad waved vaguely around the theatre, towards Ryan and Sharpay in one corner, Kelsi warming up the orchestra in another corner, and Miss Darbus busily collecting a pile of papers in another. "Your fault."

"Oh, come on. Gabriella ." Troy tried to explain.

Chad rolled his eyes. "Yes. Gabriella batted her pretty eyelashes at you and you fell under her spell and somehow we all mysteriously ended up signed up for 'Twinkle Towne Part 2'. So, you're the reason why I seem to be getting carpal tunnel from jazz hands and shin splints from step-step-pivot-stepping every afternoon during free period. I'm just waiting to get post-traumatic stress disorder any day now."

"It wasn't . I didn't . I mean." Troy was floundering.

Chad punched Troy in the shoulder. "We all _know_ you didn't _mean_ to get us into this. But, Troy, here we are. This is not the first time you've fallen victim to the magical powers of Gabriella's eyelashes or whatever. It's not like we're not used to it by now. We pretty much hijacked the entire student body to get you into the musical last year. We've won a star dazzle award well, kinda. We're in the senior year musical. We've accepted that this is what happens to us now. But that doesn't mean that I don't hate you right now. Just so we're clear."

"Do I really....?" Troy trailed off.

Chad rolled his eyes. Again. If he kept it up, he was going to have a headache to go with his wrist ache and his shin ache. He smacked Troy across the back of the head to make himself feel better. It helped.

"Movies and food tonight? My place? Everyone?" Chad asked, looking over at Troy.

"Everyone?" Troy asked, looking around the room.

"Everyone." Chad nodded.

"Gabi and I will bring the pizza," Troy said, finally managing to form a complete sentence. Though, they always brought the pizza, so he didn't get too many points for managing that particular sentence.

And then, as if they had a sixth sense, Gabriella and Taylor came over and sat down next to them.

"Pizza? Did someone mention pizza?" Taylor asked, settling down next to Chad on the stage, kicking his heel lightly.

"Pizza and movies at Chad's tonight. Everyone's invited." Troy supplied.

"Even Troy. Even though I hate him right now," Chad said.

"Everyone?" Taylor asked, raising her eyebrow at Chad. "Really?"

Chad looked over at Taylor and tried to glare her into silence.

"I don't think you hate this as much as you say you do, Chad." Taylor said, not shutting up, but changing the subject, at the very least. She bumped her shoulder against his.

"It's fun for all of us to hang out and do stuff together. Sure, it would be more fun if we were doing something else, like basketball or soccer or whatever. But, it could be worse. We could be getting together to do algebra. Or balancing chemistry equations or something," he stuck out his tongue and grinned at Taylor who looked at him with mock disapproval. "Right now, however, I still hate Troy."

"Gather 'round, everyone," Miss Darbus said, clapping her hands loudly and waiting for silence.

Chad leaned over and whispered at Troy. "She'd probably have better luck if she got a whistle." Troy snickered.

Miss Darbus smiled over at them. "Time to make the magic happen."

* ~ * ~ *

 **Invitation – Ryan**

Ryan looked down at his call display, confused. He was sure there was probably a very good reason Chad Danforth was calling him, even if he couldn't think of a single reasonable one at the moment. Maybe he had a choreography question. At 5:23 on a Friday night.

"Hello?" Ryan answered his phone, pulling open his closet door and digging through the section that contained his yoga gear.

"Come over." It wasn't really a question and Chad said it like Ryan was supposed to know what he was talking about. This was like something out of a dream sequence. Except his closet didn't have the appropriate lighting for a dream sequence. Ryan waited for the punch line. "Chad? Are you sure you dialled the right number?"

Ryan could hear Chad laughing. "Ryan Evans. Come on. Do you need me to, like, show up at your house with a fancy invitation written in those froofy-curly letters? My house. Dinner. Movie."

Calligraphy. He liked calligraphy. He was actually pretty good at it, too. He'd addressed all of the invitations for his mother's last garden party and they'd turned out fabulously. "Dinner and a movie? Chad, are you asking me out on a date?" It wasn't quite as much fun teasing the jocks when you couldn't watch them squirm. But, still fun. Which is why Ryan couldn't help himself. They made it so easy.

"Shut it, assface."

Well, that charming response wasn't the uncomfortable squirming he'd been expecting and Ryan scowled at himself when he realized it had made him giggle. He was glad Sharpay wasn't around to hear him.

"Zeke is bringing cake. Troy and Gabriella are bringing pizza. Taylor's bringing the movies. Jason's taking care of the drinks, but my parents are home, so there will be no underaged drunkenness tonight. If that's your thing. Bring your sister, if you want."

Those last words sounded only a little bit forced, Ryan had to give him credit. Maybe Chad would be a worthwhile addition to the musical, after all.

"Oh, and do you have Kelsi's number?" Chad continued. "I meant to ask her at school today but she ran out after practice before I had a chance."

Now Ryan was really confused.

"Shar's at, um, a lesson tonight," which was the truth. If she was home, he would have asked her. Seeing as she was, surprisingly, invited. Though, he could say the same for himself. But, Shar and his mom were staying overnight in the city for an early morning spa-day and apparently he was invited. By himself. "I can, um, call Kelsi if you want."

"Because, what? You're just going to start inviting people over to my house now?" Chad's voice was teasing. "I can call her, my momma raised me to have good manners. I just don't use them most of the time. And, um, is there anyone else you want me to call?"

Ryan knew that this is where he would ask if his significant other was invited. But, since that was eternally not applicable - though, that wasn't to say that there weren't a few insignificant others floating around out there - he settled for rattling off Kelsi's number.

"Seriously, Evans. You're coming, right?" There was the sound of Chad digging through his refrigerator on the other end of the phone.

Ryan looked at his watch. He needed to factor in time for getting ready and getting over to Chad's place. "Half hour? Forty-five?"

"Any time. Door's open. 386 Greenway."

Ryan repeated the address over and over in his head until he had a chance to write it down. He didn't think he'd been there since the 'the whole class is invited to my birthday' party Chad had had when he was in 7th grade.

"Oh, and Ryan? Bring a pillow and a sleeping bag or blankets or whatever, if you want. Most people are probably staying the night. If, you know, you want."

Ryan nearly dropped the phone as heard the line click dead.

Now he had absolutely no idea what to wear.

* ~ * ~ *

 **Invitation – Chad**

Chad was doodling on the dry erase board on his fridge while he waited for Ryan to pick up the phone and so he was kind of distracted and jumped a little when Ryan's voice came over the other end.

"Hello?"

"Come over," Chad said, drawing a series of stars around the edges of the board.

"Chad? Are you sure you dialled the right number?" Ryan sounded confused.

Chad laughed. "Ryan Evans. Come on. Do you need me to, like, show up at your house with a fancy invitation written in those froofy-curly letters? My house. Dinner. Movie." He nearly kicked himself when he realized that it sounded like he was asking Ryan on a date. Stupid brain, not following the plan.

"Dinner and a movie? Chad, are you asking me out on a date?" Ryan's voice was teasing and Chad found himself smiling along. For some reason, this felt familiar. And comfortable. But, he tried to ignore that and focus on the familiar. It hadn't been _that_ long since Ryan had infiltrated their group, so that was weird, but here they were.

"Shut it, assface. Zeke is bringing cake. Troy and Gabriella are bringing pizza. Taylor's bringing the movies," which Chad dearly hoped wouldn't have subtitles this time, "Jason's taking care of the drinks, but my parents are home, so there will be no underaged drunkenness tonight. If that's your thing. Bring your sister, if you want."

It pained Chad for those words to come out of his mouth, but he had to invite her. Sharpay went where Ryan went. Or, Chad figured, it was usually the other way around. But, either way, they were a package deal so he was inviting them both. "Oh, and do you have Kelsi's number? I meant to ask her at school today but she ran out after practice before I had a chance."

Ryan was silent for a moment. "Shar's at, um, a lesson tonight. I can, um, call Kelsi if you want."

"Because, what? You're just going to start inviting people over to my house now?" Chad teased. "I can call her, my momma raised me to have good manners. I just don't use them most of the time. And, um, is there anyone else you want me to call?" Chad knew he was fishing, even if he was ignoring the voice in his head that was pointing it out. Loudly.

Chad scribbled down the number that Ryan relayed to him and said, "Seriously, Evans. You're coming, right?" And, Ryan would have said if he was bringing a date. But he didn't, so he probably wasn't. Because he needed an accurate head count. For his mom. He busied himself with rearranging the refrigerator magnets.

Chad bit his lip as he waited for Ryan's response. "Half hour? Forty-five?"

"Any time. Door's open. 386 Greenway. Oh, and Ryan?" Chad felt his cheeks flush, just a little. "Bring a pillow and a sleeping bag or blankets or whatever, if you want. Most people are probably staying the night. If, you know, you want."

Chad snapped his phone shut and looked at his reflection in the glass cupboard beside the fridge. As he pushed some hair off of his face, he tried to pretend that that whole conversation hadn't been at least as awkward as asking Taylor to prom.

* ~ * ~ *

 **The Party – Ryan**

When Ryan showed up on Chad's doorstep 53 minutes later (he'd been detained by a hat emergency), he could hear the sounds of music and laughing coming up from the basement windows. His knock was answered by Chad's mom who smiled at him. "Ryan, right? Come on in, they're all downstairs. You can bring all of your stuff down there, too." Before he'd even answered, he found himself being guided into the house. So he just nodded and headed in the direction she was pointing, following the sounds of the party.

There seemed to be a mountain of duffle bags and blankets and pillows at the bottom of the stairs, so he added his stuff to the heap and looked around the room.

In one corner, there was a bunch of people piled onto the sofas around the TV, watching something with very bad and very bright special effects. There was a group of girls in another corner, flipping through magazines and eating pizza. And, over across the room, there was a small group of people gathered around a ping pong table. So far, this didn't seem all that different from a drama club party. Except maybe with fewer people spontaneously bursting into song.

He spotted Kelsi in one corner of the group by the TV. She looked up and caught his eye, smiled and waved. He was on his way over to where he was seated, when he felt an arm wrap around his shoulders.

"Ryan Evans, you're late. Join us. Have some pizza." Ryan looked over and found himself face to face with Chad who then proceeded to drag him across the room - miraculously not spilling any of the dark brown liquid in his cup all over Ryan's silk shirt - over to the pizza and, when he'd piled his plate with food, dragged him over to the group of people around the TV and settled the two of them on the couch. Kelsi, seated on the other side of Ryan, looked over at him with a somewhat confused and slightly concerned expression on her face. Ryan shrugged almost imperceptibly.

"Are they playing..." Ryan squinted. "Beer pong?"

"Dew Pong," Chad replied, like that explained it all. "It's really all about the game, anyway. Besides, there's enough sugar and caffeine in that shit to keep the party going. And, you feel just as craptacular in the morning as if there was actual beer involved. So, it's basically the same thing. And, my parents don't have to kill me. Everyone wins. At least until the next time they go out of town."

"So... That's cups full of Mountain Dew, then?" Ryan clarified. These people were weird.

"Oh, lord, Evans. Broaden your horizons," and he dragged Ryan across the room, adding their names to the bottom of the list that was tacked onto the wall, which ended up being merely a formality, since they were next.

Ryan turned to Chad as he filled the cups with the frighteningly yellow liquid. "Do you really think this is fair? I mean, it's Zeke and Jason against you and, well, me."

Chad nudged him in the shoulder. "Dude. You've got me. What more do we need? And, hey, you're on my team. You might actually win this time."

Ryan ignored Chad's good-natured teasing and surprised himself by actually being pretty good at this PG-version of Beer Pong. And, he was also surprised that he and Chad were having enough fun cheering for themselves and kicking the asses of everyone who came their way, that Ryan kept playing until he had consumed enough soda that he was fairly sure that someone somewhere was going to be able to use him in a science experiment to find out if large quantities of Mountain Dew really did make you unable to have children in the future.

After changing into the pyjamas that he'd spent 15 minutes stressing over, Ryan settled himself and all of his blankets into one of the only remaining available empty floor spaces. He ended up sleeping half in and half out of the closet with his pillow lined up next to Kelsi's, who was sleeping with her body going in the other direction, back out into the room. Ryan giggled silently to himself. This was the first time he'd been anywhere close to being in a closet in a very long time.

Making himself comfortable, he rolled over and found himself looking directly at Chad, who was staring intently back at him. Chad smiled a weird sort of smile at him - Chad couldn't actually be implying that he and Kelsi were cuddling up together, could he? - and mouthed "Good night."

Ryan, confused, mouthed the same words back at him. Chad winked at him and rolled over to go back to sleep. Ryan tried to ignore the weirdness of the entire situation by concentrating on trying to see patterns in the various ridges in the acoustic plaster on the ceiling.

Suddenly, there was a very quiet voice whispering into his ear. "Are you and Chad, like, okay again?" Kelsi's question was so quiet, so unassuming, and so exactly what Ryan was unsuccessfully not thinking about that the answer slipped past his lips before he had a chance to think better of it.

"I don't know."

It didn't surprise Ryan when Kelsi didn't respond. He was also kind of glad. Sometimes, it was nice to have someone just listen. Someone who was on his side, but wasn't going to plot the downfall of western civilization if things didn't happen to be going the way that they "should" be going. That's not to say that sometimes it wasn't extremely satisfying to take matters into your own hands, but sometimes, all he needed was someone to agree that things were weird or wrong or ...

"I think we were always okay, Kels," he said. He meant it. "Just because this summer was..." Ryan let the rest of that sentence fall into the air. "Things turned out differently than I thought they might. But, that wasn't really surprising. But, they're also different than they were, you know?" He kind of waved his hand around a little, gesturing to the fact that, a year ago, this was about the last place that the two of them would have ever been. Not only would the invitation have not been there, Ryan is fairly certain that they wouldn't have accepted. And, if they had, this is not how the night would have gone. The fact that all of these things were now untruths and that both he and Kelsi had had a wonderful time was more than he could have asked for a year ago. And, it was good. "Which is cool."

"It really, really is," Kelsi agreed. "You know," she paused, sounding unsure. "I was thinking of writing maybe writing a song for some of the other basketball players. I think a song for Zeke would be really cool and, maybe Chad..."

Ryan smiled as he rolled over, Kelsi's quiet voice was speeding up like it did when she was really excited about something. As he settled himself on his side, he saw Taylor, who was sleeping on the couch that Chad was sleeping next to, sit up and bend forward and say something to Chad who was settled on the floor below her. He could see Chad's silhouette laughing at whatever Taylor was saying and playfully swatting her hand away from his face.

"Kelsi, somehow, I think the show would be perfect if you could somehow find a way to get Chad Danforth into the clown suit," Ryan half-muttered the words into his pillows.

* ~ * ~ *

 **The Party – Chad**

Chad had not been watching his watch. It was entirely coincidental that he happened to notice that it was 53 minutes after he and Ryan had hung up that he heard Ryan's knock on the front door over the sounds of the party. Chad busied himself with filling a cup with root beer as he kept half of an eye on the stairs. Ryan got to the bottom of the stairs and, after a quick look around, he tossed the bags and blanket he'd been carrying on the huge pile that was already building on the floor.

Ryan scanned the room and, when he noticed Kelsi waving at him, he started to head in that direction. Chad was in support of that, really, he was. Kelsi was quiet, but she was cute and fun and crazy talented. But, Chad need Ryan to eat something first. With him. He wandered up behind Ryan and slung his arm around his shoulders.

"Ryan Evans, you're late. Join us. Have some pizza." Ryan startled a little and looked over to Chad. Chad grinned and pulled him over to the side of the room where there was approximately 3 tonnes of pizza. When he was satisfied that Ryan had taken enough food, he led Ryan back to where he was originally headed, only this time he had inserted himself into the group. Like a good host. Kelsi, seated on the other side of Ryan, looked over at Ryan and the two of them had some sort of silent conversation with their eyebrows. The end result of which was Ryan taking a quick look around the room and then turning to Chad.

"Are they playing..." Ryan squinted. "Beer pong?"

"Dew Pong," Chad replied. Which was really kinda lame but for some reason was still a staple at all parties with parental supervision. "It's really all about the game, anyway. Besides, there's enough sugar and caffeine in that shit to keep the party going. And, you feel just as craptacular in the morning as if there was actual beer involved. So, it's basically the same thing. And, my parents don't have to kill me. Everyone wins. At least until the next time they go out of town."

"So... That's Mountain Dew, then?" Ryan asked, eyeing the whole setup warily.

"Oh, lord, Evans. Broaden your horizons," and he dragged Ryan across the room, adding their names to the bottom of the list. There was a chalkboard hung on the wall by the pool table just for this reason. Even if the rest of his family now used it to keep score when they played actual games of actual ping pong and not as a list of who was next to get really, really drunk when they were out of town.

Ryan turned to Chad. "Do you really think this is fair? I mean, it's Zeke and Jason against you and, well, me."

Chad nudged him in the shoulder. He had a point. Ryan would be the only non-basketball player in the group. And, Chad hated to lose. But, he was also a man with a plan and this seemed like as good of a starting point as any. "Dude. You've got me. What more do we need? And, hey, you're on my team. You might actually win this time." Okay, so his team had _barely_ won the baseball game at Lava Springs and really his loss had nothing to do with Ryan at all, but that didn't mean Chad didn't feel compelled to gloat about it at all possible opportunities. It was his right as the winner.

Ryan, as it turned out, was actually fairly decent at Dew Pong and, unlike Beer Pong where _everyone_ gets worse the longer they play, he got even better as the night went on. They played for so long that Chad was fairly sure that at least half of his blood was now made of Mountain Dew and he was kind of worried that he might actually puke all over his shoes by the time they called it a night. They were the undisputed champions, however, so it would have been totally worth it.

Much later, Chad was heading down the stairs, carrying an arm full of pillows that he couldn't see over, when he heard Taylor's voice. "So, how's your planning going?"

Chad stopped on the stairs and handed half of his pile to Taylor. "Well, I got him to agree to a private dance rehearsal on Tuesday at lunch. I'm pretty much hoping that it somehow turns into a re-enactment of the locker room after the staff baseball game at Lava Springs. It's not a very complicated plan. I'm not used to being the criminal mastermind all on my own. But, it seems like shoving him up against the wall might get my point across. And, you know, it's not in public, so if I get totally shot down, no one else will be there to see it."

"Admittedly, it's a rather limited plan, yes. You seem to be putting all of your eggs in one basket, but I can see the potential there. What's your Plan B?" Taylor asked.

"For Plan A to work?" Chad replied.

"Did you ask Troy what he thought?" Taylor asked. Clearly, Taylor had had a stroke.

Chad looked at her.

"Troy still doesn't know?" She said it like she was surprised.

"Yeah. I don't know how I haven't managed to bring it up, say, in the locker room. Right after we're done discussing how much each of us can bench press." Chad rolled his eyes at her. She was so smart but so not logical sometimes.

"Does Troy not have eyes? You're not exactly subtle," Taylor pointed out.

Chad just stared at her.

"Okay. So, he's kind of oblivious," she conceded.

"He'll figure it out eventually." Chad said with a shrug. He was punking out and he knew it.

"Ideally that would be when he sees you with your tongue shoved down Ryan's throat?"

"That'd work for me, yeah." Chad replied, rounding the corner into the basement.

Spreading his sleeping bag out on the floor between the TV and the sofa, Chad noticed Ryan, dressed in a pair of soft-looking blue and white striped pyjamas, setting himself up across the room next to Kelsi. He found himself staring at Ryan, wondering if Ryan would have totally freaked out if he'd set himself up to sleep over there. When Ryan caught his eye, and noticed him staring, Chad smiled an embarrassed smile and mouthed, "Good night." And, with a wink, he settled himself back into the sleeping bag, concentrating long and hard on the cottage cheese pattern in the ceiling above his head.

Taylor, who was settling in on the sofa above him, reached down and flicked his nose. "See? Not exactly subtle. I'm making you and Troy t-shirts. Captain Obvious and Captain Oblivious. Though," she whispered conspiratorially, bending down so her mouth was only a few inches from his ear, "I'm starting to wonder if I should make one of the Captain Oblivious ones for him, too. I'm not sure why I'm surprised that even your brand of subtlety is going over his head. Most days, I wouldn't use the word subtle to describe Ryan, either. Maybe your plan isn't so second-rate after all."

Chad laughed and grinned up at her, swatting her finger off of his nose. "Good night, Taylor," he said, rolling over and pulling the sleeping bag up to cover his face.

* ~ * ~ *

 **Fight Class - Ryan**

"Hey, where're you going? We have rehearsal in a few minutes." Chad's voice rang through the quiet practice room as Ryan packed his bag. He jumped a little. He hadn't known there was anyone else around.

"You'll survive without me for one rehearsal," he actually meant it, too. Most of his classmates, particularly Chad, had surprised him with how hard they'd been working to be on top of everything. Some of them had even come to extra rehearsals he scheduled before school and after practices. "I have fight class tonight."

"Huh?" Chad's look of confusion was priceless. Ryan hadn't thought about it before he'd answered, but it made sense that Chad wouldn't be familiar with the term.

Ryan smiled over at him. "Fight class. I was in this production of Julius Cesar over at UNM a while ago and I started going to their fight classes to practice for the battle scenes and they let me keep coming, even after the show was over. It's fun. And, really helpful."

"Can we have fight classes?"

Ryan raised his eyebrows at Chad. "Chad, we're from Albuquerque. We fight each other on the basketball court and in the scholastic decathlon. We're not exactly the Sharks and the Jets." He really had to start picking more universal analogies. "I mean, rival gangs."

"Hey! I got that reference, thank you very much. And, okay, fine. But, I still think we should have a fight scene. You were in a college show? That's awesome."

"I had a really small part. I was Cinna, the poet. I was only in one scene and had, like, 8 lines. But, I did get attacked by an angry mob of people and torn to pieces in the street. Partly because my character had the same name as one of the conspirators, but I think mostly because I wrote really bad poetry."

"Still, though. You got torn to pieces in a college show? That's pretty cool. Even if you did suck at poetry." Chad grinned. "Seriously. Teach me something."

"It's just like dancing, Chad. It's all choreography. And, I would get to lead. And, I have to be out of here in," he looked at his watch, "Five minutes. Seven, if I run. They'll kill me if I'm late." Which wasn't strictly true, but Ryan would be so embarrassed that he would want to die, so it was pretty much the same thing in the end.

"Well, I've been pretty much living and breathing dancing for the last few weeks, so I should be able to pick it up. I'll totally let you lead. Come on. Please?"

For some reason, Chad looked so hopeful, bouncing up and down on the tips of his toes that Ryan felt himself relenting. He sighed and put his bag down on the floor against the wall. He walked over and stood in front of Chad. "Alright. Take your right hand, and pretend to throw a punch towards my head. Seriously, Danforth. _Pretend_. You hit me and I _will_ send my sister after you. Don't think I won't."

Chad made a show of visibly shuddering. He grinned and threw a slow punch with his right hand. Ryan grabbed his wrist with his own right hand and then grabbed Chad's right hand in both of his. Placing his thumbs on the back of Chad's hand, he twisted his hand backwards and Ryan was surprised with how easily Chad's knees buckled and he let Ryan guide him to 'fall' to the floor. Ryan followed him down to the ground and pressed his knee lightly into the centre of Chad's chest, to 'hold' him there. "Its way more fun with swords," Ryan said with a grin.

Chad grinned back up at him. "Well, duh. Okay. I think I got it."

Ryan laughed and stood up, holding out his hand to Chad to help pull him up. "My turn," he said. To his credit, it was almost a question. Ryan found himself nodding as Chad dropped his hand.

Ryan threw a slow punch towards Chad. "Now grab my wrist with your right hand." He talked Chad through the motions and let himself fall backwards onto the floor. He was so not dressed appropriately for this. His shirt was going to be filthy. And, he was wearing white pants.

He looked up and saw Chad watching him, still gripping his hand tightly. The next thing that he knew, Chad had bent down and released Ryan's hand, placing each of his hands on Ryan's shoulders. He stilled there, for a moment. Ryan couldn't tell from the expression on his face what was going through Chad's mind. He opened his mouth to ask when Chad bent forward and kissed him, brushing one hand across Ryan's forehead and pushing his hat off. The surprised noise he made when Chad moved to a more agreeable position was muffled by Chad's lips. He found himself kissing back, both of them pulling away, faces flushed and breathing hard, when the alarm on Ryan's watch sounded only a few seconds later.

Chad stood up, held out his hand like nothing had happened, and hauled Ryan to his feet. "Well, have a good time at fight class. I'll see you in homeroom tomorrow," and he turned and walked out of the door with a grin and a wave.

Ryan stood there for a moment, blinking and lips tingling. Partially confused and partially because his knees felt like jell-o and he couldn't actually make his feet move.

"Huh?"

* ~ * ~ *

 **Fight Class - Chad**

Chad stood in the doorway to the practice room beside the theatre and watched Ryan pack up his dance bag like he was leaving, instead of getting ready for rehearsal.

"Hey, where're you going? We have rehearsal in a few minutes." Chad saw Ryan jump at his words. Clearly Chad was more stealth-like than Troy gave him credit for. Maybe it was all the dancing. He had been going to the extra rehearsals that Ryan had been having. And, he was going to keep going since apparently, as an added bonus, they gave him superpowers.

"You'll survive without me for one rehearsal," Ryan replied. This was weird. Ryan was going to be skipping rehearsal? Chad wondered if Ryan had been abducted by aliens. Or pod people. Or...

"I have fight class tonight."

Chad had started to walk into the room and felt himself stop short. _Huh?_ "Huh?" Okay, as strangely dedicated to this musical as Chad was finding himself, he had to admit that he would probably skip for something called 'fight class', too.

"Fight class. I was in this production of Julius Cesar over at UNM a while ago and I started going to their fight classes to practice for the battle scenes and they let me keep coming, even after the show was over. It's fun. And, really helpful."

"Can we have fight classes?" Chad was sure they could put a fight sequence in the show somewhere. Troy would totally volunteer to fight with him. And, Chad figured that between and the Troy and Sharpay drama of the past summer, Ryan _had_ to like him better than Troy. He could probably talk Ryan into making it so he kicked Troy's ass. That would rock.

Ryan raised his eyebrows and looked at Chad like he'd lost his mind. "Chad, we're from Albuquerque. We fight each other on the basketball court and in the scholastic decathlon. We're not exactly the Sharks and the Jets. I mean, rival gangs."

Chad had studied "Romeo and Juliet" in grade 10 English class and although he hadn't actually read the play like he was supposed to, he'd been in class the days they'd watched the movie version of "West Side Story" and he hadn't slept through the whole thing like he thought he would, either. "Hey! I got that reference, thank you very much. And, okay, fine. But, I still think we should have a fight scene. You were in a college show? That's awesome."

"I had a really small part. I was Cinna, the poet. I was only in one scene and had, like, 8 lines. But, I did get attacked by an mob of people and torn to pieces in the street. Partly because my character had the same name as one of the conspirators, but I think mostly because I wrote really bad poetry."

Chad hadn't read that play, either, so he took Ryan's word for it. "Still, though. You got torn to pieces in a college show? That's pretty cool. Even if you did suck at poetry. Seriously. Teach me something."

"It's just like dancing, Chad. It's all choreography. And, I would get to lead. And, I have to be out of here in," Ryan looked at his watch, "Five minutes. Seven, if I run. They'll kill me if I'm late."

Five minutes. That was enough time for Chad to... well. Enact Plan B. He wasn't entirely sure what Plan B was, but it was apparently the plan that he was going to use now that this opportunity had come up a full 14 hours before Plan A was supposed to be kicked into gear. "Well, I've been pretty much living and breathing dancing for the last few weeks, so I should be able to pick it up. I'll totally let you lead. Come on. Please?" He tried the look he gave his mom when he was trying to convince her to agree to something that he really, really wanted against her (usually right) better judgement.

Ryan sighed and put his bag down and walked over to Chad. "Alright. Take your right hand, and pretend to throw a punch towards my head. Seriously, Danforth. _Pretend_. You hit me and I _will_ send my sister after you. Don't think I won't."

Chad grinned and made sure that he shuddered enough for Ryan to notice. He threw a very slow punch towards Ryan and Ryan grabbed his wrist with his own right hand and then grabbed Chad's right hand in both of his. He felt the pads of Ryan's thumbs press steadily into the back of his hand as Ryan twisted his wrist. He let himself go completely limp and let Ryan push him backwards onto the floor, supporting most of Chad's weight by his wrist. Ryan followed him down to the ground and pressed his knee lightly into the middle of Chad's chest, barely enough pressure to wrinkle his shirt, but Chad found himself short of breath anyway. Ryan's eyes were twinkling as he looked down at Chad. "Its way more fun with swords," Ryan said with a grin.

Chad grinned back up at him. "Well, duh. Okay. I think I got it." It really was like a dance and Ryan was a dancer. As long as he led, Ryan would follow.

Ryan laughed and stood up, holding out his hand to Chad. Chad let himself be pulled up off the floor, untangling their hands slightly more slowly than perhaps was strictly required.

"My turn," he said. _Please say yes, please say yes._. It hadn't quite been five minutes and Chad really wanted his turn. Plan B seemed to be making itself more clear with every passing minute. He smiled when Ryan nodded.

Ryan threw a slow punch towards Chad. "Now grab my wrist with your right hand." Chad listened as Ryan told him what to do, and Ryan fell easily, with a small smile on his lips. Chad kept his eyes on Ryan's face until he was sprawled out below him on the floor. He studied Ryan's face until he saw Ryan looking back up at him.

It was only then that he released his hold on Ryan's wrist and placed a hand on each of Ryan's shoulders and continued to watch him. To give him a chance to look away. When Ryan didn't, Chad bent forward, moved his legs so he was straddling Ryan's hips and kissed Ryan's slightly open mouth. He pushed Ryan's hat to the ground as he wrapped his hand around the back of Ryan's head and made a mental note to apologize for that later. Ryan made a surprised noise, but started kissing back like Chad hoped he would. Chad's heart skipped a beat in his chest when the sound of Ryan's watch alarm broke through the silence. He pulled back, his face felt as flushed as Ryan's looked and he took slow, deep breaths to try and slow the spinning of the room around him.

As soon as he was successful, Chad stood up and held out his hand to Ryan. His mind was racing a million miles a minute, but he was proud of how cool his exterior was. Pulling Ryan to his feet, he gave his hand a quick squeeze and then backed away. "Well, have a good time at fight class. I'll see you in homeroom tomorrow."

He couldn't stop the stupid grin from spreading over his face as he backed through the door. He waved goodbye to Ryan before he turned and headed down the hall. He made sure that he was out of eye and earshot when he finally allowed himself to stop walking and take a minute to compose himself, pressing the tips of his fingers to his lips that were probably still going to be burning in an hour. Now all he had to do was hope Ryan was feeling the same thing. So far, so good. He smiled to himself when he caught a glimpse of Ryan's reflection in the glass of a picture frame on the wall and noticed Ryan hadn't moved a muscle.

"Better get going, Ryan. Wouldn't want to be late." Chad said to himself with a very self-satisfied grin as he composed himself and pushed open the doors to the theatre.

* ~ * ~ *

 **Homeroom – Ryan**

Ryan was not waiting for Chad. He wasn't. He was busy transcribing the entire libretto to "Rent" into his plain blue spiral bound notebook. He'd finished up all of the lyrics to "Wicked" during last period yesterday and had started on "Rent" while waiting for Sharpay to finish blow-drying her hair this morning. He hadn't looked up since he sat down. He nodded and made agreeable noises as Sharpay blathered on about something.

He was just finishing up the last line that Mark's mother sings into Mark and Roger's answering machine in the beginning of the first scene of the first act when all of a sudden Chad slid into his field of view, sitting on the edge of his desk. Surprised, Ryan quickly shut his notebook and looked up at Chad, trying to swallow the sudden nervousness.

He opened his mouth to ask Chad what he was doing there. To ask him what he was doing _yesterday_ , but he couldn't manage to speak, so he closed his mouth again and tried to will some sort of explanation out of Chad.

Chad, for his part, seemed entirely unfazed by the whole situation. "So, we still on for that dance rehearsal at lunch today?"

Ryan nodded and cleared his throat. That dance rehearsal that Chad had asked him for at the party on Friday. The one he'd agreed to before he realized what he'd agreed to. "Um... yeah." So far, this conversation was not going at all like he'd imagined it going. He was waiting for Chad to do something. Or say something. Chad had _kissed_ him and not that he wanted to have this conversation in the middle of homeroom, but Chad wasn't freaking out about it. Or teasing him about it. Or even alluding to it. And, Ryan was about to lose his mind.

"Good. I was thinking we could work on the choreography for the cafeteria number. I keep tripping over my feet after the part where I jump off of the table. And, I hit Dana in the back of the head yesterday after the step-step-pencil turn. I thought she was going to kill me."

"I. Um. Sure. Yeah. The cafeteria song." Ryan could feel his fingernails digging into the palms of his hands.

"How was your class last night?" Chad asked.

"Last night?" Ryan answered before thinking about the question. He took a deep breath and tried to focus.

"Kicking ass, theatre-style?"

Fight class. Chad was asking about fight class. Which was last night. After Chad had kissed him.

"Oh, fight class. It was, um, fine. Accidently hit my partner in the collarbone. Which was, um, not what I was supposed to do. As you can probably imagine." Aaron, his partner, had been more than a little pissed. And Ryan had almost hurt his hand. And, he'd looked incompetent.

"Off night?" Chad's voice was pure innocence.

"Couldn't seem to focus. Can't imagine why." Ryan looked Chad in the eye and drummed his fingertips on the table. Finally saying, or at least managing to imply, that they _were_ going to talk about this. Even if they had to do it right now, in the middle of homeroom. Ryan _loathed_ looking incompetent.

Chad grinned and hopped off the desk, squeezing Ryan's shoulder before walking over to his own desk. Ryan started to call after him, but changed his mind. They could talk later.

"Ryan, seriously. Close your mouth. You look like a fish."

Ryan looked up at his sister and glared.

She shrugged. "You do. You didn't tell me that you had a rough class last night."

"Nothing to say," he replied, pulling open his notebook and doodling a picture of a rotary-style telephone with a curly cord that filled the entire length of the margin next to the song lyrics.

"Do you need me to..." she waved her pen in the air, drawing vague shapes in Chad's direction with the pink feather on the end of the pen.

"Defend my honour by making his life miserable?" Ryan knew that look in his sister's eye. The look that reminded him there was a very good reason he was glad she was unconditionally on his side without hearing either of the sides – unless, of course, one of the sides was her own.

"Or, that," she said, taking a sip from the glittery pink travel mug that was balanced on the corner of her desk and flipping through her cell phone's address book with her other hand. Ryan didn't even want to consider whose number she might be looking for. He found that ignorance was usually the best approach in these situations.

Ryan looked over to where Chad was sitting and he watched Chad blow a kiss to Taylor who laughed.

Ryan looked over at his sister, his eyes narrowed. He wanted to do this on his own. "Nah, I think I've got it under control."

"Let me know if you change your mind," she said, flipping her phone closed and sliding it into her purse.

"Always," Ryan said, tapping his pen on his desk. "Always."

* ~ * ~ *

 **Homeroom - Chad**

Chad made himself almost late to homeroom on purpose. It would ruin the element of surprise if Ryan wasn't already sitting at his desk when Chad got there. When he strode into the classroom, he saw Ryan sitting at his desk, scribbling into a notebook, studiously avoiding looking around the room.

He walked across the room and slid himself onto Ryan's desk, which caused Ryan to look up at him. Before Chad had a chance to see what Ryan was scribbling into his notebook, Ryan snapped the book closed and stared up at Chad, eyes wide.

Chad could see Ryan swallow and then open his mouth to say something, but no words came out.

Chad kept his face as expressionless as he could manage. "So, we still on for that dance rehearsal at lunch today?"

Ryan nodded and cleared his throat. "Um... yeah." His eyes were darting back and forth nervously. As if he were waiting for Chad to do something unexpected.

"Good. I was thinking we could work on the choreography for the cafeteria number. I keep tripping over my feet after the part where I jump off of the table. And, I hit Dana in the back of the head yesterday after the step-step-pencil turn. I thought she was going to kill me." Chad was doing a lot better at pretending he was cool with this whole thing that he thought he was going to be. He was definitely acting more cool about the whole thing than Ryan was.

"I. Um. Sure. Yeah. The cafeteria song."

"How was your class last night?" Chad asked.

"Last night?" Ryan sounded confused. Chad almost felt badly for him. Almost. Except that seeing Ryan Evans a little bit flustered was something he'd never seen before.

"Kicking ass, theatre-style?"

"Oh, fight class. It was, um, fine. Accidently hit my partner in the collarbone. Which was, um, not what I was supposed to do. As you can probably imagine." Chad was fairly new to this whole stage-fighting thing, but he was pretty sure the point was to _not_ hit your opponents.

"Off night?" Chad asked, even though he knew the answer.

"Couldn't seem to focus. Can't imagine why." There was a flicker of composure coming back into Ryan's eyes.

Chad hopped off the desk, leaving before Ryan had a chance to get the upper hand. He'd let Ryan have it later. Maybe. If he asked nicely.

Settling into his desk, he ignored the way that Troy was watching him, trying to figure out what was going on.

As he started pulling his books for first period out of his bag, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

He reached out and took the piece of paper that Taylor held out to him. Flipping it open, he laughed.

 _Private dance lesson?_ Taylor's handwriting was perfect.

 _Or something._ His reply was barely legible.

 _Let me know how that goes for you. Be careful. S looks like you're next on the hit list. R looks very frustrated. Put the boy out of his misery. But, you're still taking me to prom. I already bought a dress._ She scribbled back.

Chad laughed and turned and blew her a kiss.

* ~ * ~ *

 **Practice Room – Ryan**

Ryan made it through the hallways from his last class before lunch to the practice room in what had to be record time.

And still, Chad had managed to get there first. He was stretching in the corner of the room, paying attention to his posture in the mirror. He must have seen Ryan's reflection in the mirror because he waved into the mirror. "Come on in, I was just getting warmed up." There was some generic hip-hop music playing on the radio.

Ryan stepped into the room and let the door close behind him. He leaned back against the door and crossed his arms over his chest.

"What's going on, Chad?" It was at these words that Chad finally turned around and looked at him.

"I thought we were rehearsing. I have the music for the cafeteria scene set up in—" he trailed off when he realized that Ryan was still glaring at him.

"Okay, fine. So, maybe I don't really need the extra dance practice. At least, I don't think that I do. Do I?"

Ryan didn't dignify that with a response and he tried again. "What's going on?"

"Okay, so I kissed you yesterday," Chad said simply. Ryan sighed. If Chad was going to spend the entire lunch hour stating the obvious, this conversation was going to take a very, very long time.

Ryan just looked at him. "Yeah, that's about the only part of this entire situation that I'm sure of. Let's start with a more specific question, then. Why?"

"Because I wanted to," Chad took a deep breath and, for the first time in the last five days, he actually looked nervous. "And, I want to do it again." He let out a somewhat hysterical laugh. "So, there, I said it. Out loud, even. So, yeah. Here I am."

"But... Taylor." Ryan didn't even know what it was that he was trying to say, other than bringing up her very existence in Chad's life.

Chad shook his head. "This summer. Do you remember the baseball game?"

The expression on Chad's face was hopeful, as if he was actually worried that Ryan didn't remember the baseball game. And, the empty locker room after the baseball game. And, the shower in the locker room after the baseball game that _still_ left Ryan flushed and breathless if he stopped to think about it. He was probably going to remember that baseball game for as long as he could remember his own name. Maybe longer. And, the few days after the baseball game where he and Chad traded text messages and quick phone calls and seemed to be maybe on the way to something like dating. Until it sort of just... evened out and he was cautiously integrated into the elite inner circle that were Chad and his friends and that's where things were now. There was not a single thing in either of their behaviour that would even suggest otherwise. Until yesterday.

"But, you're going to the prom with Taylor." And there was that. Chad's girlfriend.

"You're going to the prom with Kelsi." Chad pointed out. Okay, so that was a fair point. Especially if Chad was actually trying to say what it sounded like he was trying to say.

"Didn't you notice there was no 'Tada! Prom!' moment with us? Taylor and me, I mean?" Chad asked. Ryan wondered if Chad made sense to himself.

Ryan blinked. "Huh?"

"Troy didn't really have to ask Gabi, because they assumed they'd be going. Together. He showed her the tickets and Tada! Prom! Instant date." Chad made a flourish with his hands."Didn't you think there was a reason that I had to make a big production out of asking Taylor? Why do you think she was torturing me so much?"

"Because she's a girl?" Ryan didn't understand girls. Granted, the girl he had the most experience with was his sister and he didn't think that even people who understood girls could understand Sharpay.

"Because she's my friend."

Ryan blinked.

"A few months ago I told her I thought that maybe I wasn't all that into girls and she bought me a book. And, a toaster oven. Apparently it's a thing." Chad shrugged.

Ryan laughed but then stopped short. "A few months ago?"

"I missed you, you know. When we got back to school and we had our stuff again. Basketball. Drama. You know. So I waited to see what would happen. And, I had to talk to someone. And, it helped me sort some stuff out. The talking. And, the waiting. And, then, Troy got us involved in this play and there you were again. Funny and confident and this summer kinda came rushing back. And, I kinda wanted it to."

Ryan gaped. So much for the part of the conversation where he had the upper hand.

"And, you know, this isn't exactly how I thought this would go." Chad was fidgeting.

"And, how was that?" Ryan asked.

"Well, I wasn't supposed to kiss you yesterday, which meant that we weren't supposed to have this conversation. We were supposed to work on choreography and I was going to kiss you today and do a better job of explaining myself. Before you had time to get pissed at me for acting like a jackass. And, then, you know, we'd see how things went from there. Maybe a repeat of the locker room incident. Except I'd do the afterwards parts better this time. You know, without the freaking out and the running to Taylor, who I think might have known already, and then deciding that avoiding you was the solution to the problem. Because, really, none of those things were helpful. Except, you know, for the toaster oven. I'm totally taking it to college. It makes awesome grilled cheese."

"She actually bought you a toaster oven?" Ryan asked with a laugh.

"I told you she did." He paused. "So, yeah. Um. Now that I've pretty much said everything there is to say I should probably stop wasting your time and I'll um, just go. I'm sorry, Ryan. I'll see you in rehearsal this afternoon and, um, yeah. Talk to you later and –" Chad was heading for the door and he stopped walking and talking mid-sentence when Ryan reached out and grabbed his arm and pulled him before he could make it to the door.

As far as apologies went, this was probably the most awkward one he'd ever heard. And, Ryan was fairly sure that this particular speech, awkward and rambling as it was, wasn't going to make it into any romantic comedies at any point, ever. But, Ryan had also to admit that not everyone was lucky enough to get one like this. And, maybe it had worked on him.

He pulled Chad back into the room so suddenly that Chad dropped his backpack to the floor with a clunk. He grabbed Chad's wrists in his hand and pulled him until they were face to face and they could practically share breath. Ryan tilted his head up and raised himself up slightly onto his toes. He pulled Chad's arms around his waist and as their lips collided together, he could feel his back hit the wall with a dull thud.

Reaching up, he tangled his fingers in Chad's hair and used the handhold to pull their lips closer together as he bit lightly at Chad's lips.

"Okay, this?" Chad practically breathed the words into his mouth. "This is way more like it."

* ~ * ~ *

 **Practice Room – Chad**

Twenty minutes before lunch period, Chad had asked for a hall pass. He was probably going to get at least a week's worth of detention for not going back to class before heading out for lunch, but Chad needed to beat Ryan to the practice room. He didn't want to chance Ryan beating him there and deciding not to stick around. Or, Ryan beating him there and waiting to confront him the second he walked through the door.

In an effort to calm himself down, Chad flipped on the radio, leaving it on wherever the last person using it had left it, and started slowly stretching out the tense muscles in his shoulders, neck and back, all the while keeping his eyes on the mirror. It was barely two minutes past the sound of the bell when Ryan's reflection appeared behind him in the mirror. He smiled and waved, both actions more calm on the outside than he was on the inside. "Come on in, I was just getting warmed up."

Ryan pulled the door closed behind him and leaned back against it, crossing his arms across his chest and staring evenly at Chad.

Okay, so by getting there first, he apparently hadn’t managed to avoid the confrontation.

"What's going on, Chad?" He was mad. Chad couldn't really blame him.

Chad turned around. "I thought we were rehearsing. I have the music for the cafeteria scene set up in—" he trailed off. Apparently he was going to have to talk about this directly. "Okay, fine. So, maybe I don't really need the extra dance practice. At least, I don't think that I do. Do I?"

Ryan just continued staring at him. "What's going on?"

"Okay, so I kissed you yesterday," Chad said because he didn't know what else to say.

Ryan tapped his foot at him in a way that was very reminiscent of his sister. "Yeah, that's about the only part of this entire situation that I'm sure of. Let's start with a more specific question, then. Why?"

"Because I wanted to." Chad took a deep breath. So much for avoiding the confrontation. And, apparently now wasn't the time for subtle. Even if, according to Taylor, he wasn't really actually all that subtle. The only thing left was to tell it like it was. "And, I want to do it again." Chad let out the breath he'd been holding and it came out sounding kinda panicked. Which wasn't too far from how he was feeling, in reality. "So, there, I said it. Out loud, even. So, yeah. Here I am." He held out his hands.

"But... Taylor." Ryan looked like he had more to say, but there was nothing coming. Chad supposed it didn't matter. He knew there was a lot about Taylor that he needed to explain. Starting with everything.

He shook his head. "This summer. Do you remember the baseball game?" It wasn't so much that Chad had thought he'd forgotten it, he was fairly sure that the whole making out while naked in the staff shower at your parents' country club thing was fairly memorable no matter how many other people Ryan had kissed. It was more that he was concerned about _how_ Ryan remembered it. And, how much that memory made up for the fact that, after a few days, Chad had panicked and more or less stopped talking to Ryan unless there was at least another person around to act as a buffer.

"But, you're going to the prom with Taylor."

"You're going to the prom with Kelsi." Chad pointed out. Ryan needed to see that those two statements had a lot more in common that Ryan had originally thought. "Didn't you notice there was no 'Tada! Prom!' moment with us? Taylor and I, I mean?" Chad asked. Chad knew he wasn't making sense. He was more preoccupied with trying to make sure that Ryan was still listening.

Ryan blinked. "Huh?"

"Troy didn't really have to ask Gabi, because they assumed they'd be going. Together. He showed her the tickets and Tada! Prom! Instant date." Chad made a flourish with his hands. "Didn't you think there was a reason that I had to make a big production out of asking Taylor? Why do you think she was torturing me so much?"

"Because she's a girl?" was Ryan's response. Which, Chad thought, might have not been a bad point.

"Because she's my friend." A friend who loves to torture him in any way possible.

Ryan blinked at him.

Chad took a breath. "A few months ago I told her I thought that maybe I wasn't all that into girls and she bought me a book. And, a toaster oven. Apparently it's a thing." Chad shrugged.

Ryan laughed but then stopped short. "A few months ago?"

"I missed you, you know. When we got back to school and we had our stuff again. Basketball. Drama. You know. So I waited to see what would happen. And, I had to talk to someone. And, it helped me sort some stuff out. The talking. And, the waiting. And, then, Troy got us involved in this play and there you were again. Funny and confident and this summer kinda came rushing back. And, I kinda wanted it to."

Ryan gaped.

Chad didn't know if he was making any sense at all, but Ryan seemed to have somehow stumbled onto his wavelength. "And, you know, this isn't exactly how I thought this would go."

"And, how was that?" Ryan asked.

"Well, I wasn't supposed to kiss you yesterday, which meant that we weren't supposed to have this conversation. We were supposed to work on choreography and I was going to kiss you today and do a better job of explaining myself. Before you had time to get pissed at me for acting like a jackass. And, then, you know, we'd see how things went from there. Maybe a repeat of the locker room incident. Except I'd do the afterwards parts better this time. You know, without the freaking out and the running to Taylor, who I think might have known already, and then deciding that avoiding you was the solution to the problem. Because, really, none of those things were helpful. Except, you know, for the toaster oven. I'm totally taking it to college. It makes awesome grilled cheese."

"She actually bought you a toaster oven?" Ryan asked with a laugh.

"I told you she did." At first he'd thought she'd lost her mind. But, he'd actually read parts of the book she'd given him and he'd googled the whole toaster oven thing. And, it really did make really awesome grilled cheese.

But, Ryan was just standing there, staring at him and Chad could feel his spirits deflate a little bit. "So, yeah. Um. Now that I've pretty much said everything there is to say I should probably stop wasting your time and I'll um, just go. I'm sorry, Ryan. I'll see you in rehearsal this afternoon and, um, yeah. Talk to you later and –" Chad started heading for the door, awkwardly looking between Ryan and the floor but stopped dead when he felt Ryan's fingers wrap tightly around his arm and pull him backwards before he managed to get his hand on the door handle.

Ryan pulled him back so quickly that Chad almost lost his balance and he let go of his backpack and it landed with a thud on the floor. He had both of his hands wrapped around Chad's wrists and, dragging Chad back in front of him, Ryan pulled Chad's arms so that they were wrapped around Ryan's waist. Their faces were close enough together that Chad could almost feel the heat radiating off of Ryan's flushed skin. He felt Ryan's face get closer suddenly Ryan was kissing him. Or, he was kissing Ryan. The whole thing happened so quickly that Chad couldn't really tell which was which. He pushed himself closer into Ryan's personal space and as they pushed themselves closer together, he felt his hands be pressed up against the wall by Ryan's hips as Ryan backed into the wall.

Chad felt Ryan's hands slide up his back and twist into the hair at the back of his head. He felt pressure on the back of his neck as Ryan pulled their mouths closer together and he bit softly at Chad's lips.

Chad pulled back just enough for air to pass between their lips. "Okay, this?" Chad's words were almost nothing more than a breath. "This is way more like it."

* ~ * ~ *

 **Movie Night – Ryan**

"Hey Chad, what's up?" Ryan asked, holding his phone to his ear with his shoulder while trying to dig his keys out of his backpack.

"Come over."

Ryan stopped. "Movie night?" He didn't remember hearing anyone talking about that earlier during rehearsal. But, maybe it was a usual Friday thing that he needed to start scheduling into his life. He shook his bag violently, trying to unearth his keys.

"Kinda. Hey, Ryan, your keys are in the front pocket of your bag. You put them there at the start of rehearsal," Chad said and Ryan stopped and looked around.

"Where are you?" He scanned the school, the quad, and the parking lot until he saw Chad step out through the front doors, waving.

Ryan ended the call and shoved his cell phone into the front pocket of his backpack as he pulled his keys out of the same pocket.

Chad flipped his phone closed and walked over to Ryan, grinning.

"So, what's Taylor got in store for us tonight?" Ryan asked when Chad was within earshot.

Chad shrugged. "Actually, I didn't ask her tonight."

Ryan stopped. "Just us?"

Chad nodded.

"Who's bringing the pizza then?" Ryan asked. Because it was an easier question than the one he wanted to ask.

Chad laughed. "Well, I could ask Troy to bring it, but then he'd probably try to stay and eat it." Chad paused. "Did you want me to invite, like, Troy and Gabi or something? Because I can. I mean, you can ask your sister or Kelsi and I could call Zeke and –"

"Chad?" Ryan interrupted Chad so he could take a moment to breathe.

"Yeah?"

"You pick the movie. I think I can manage to bring the pizza. You don't need to invite our entire homeroom. Unless you want to." Ryan was happy to see Chad's face relax. "I'll even bring desert."

Chad grinned over at him. "Yeah?"

"Chad, we could do this somewhere less threatening. Like, we could go to the movies," Ryan offered.

The movies were good for a first date; minimal talking with a buffer of other people. If it's awkward, the date finishes at the same time as the movie. If it's not awkward, you go for coffee. It's pretty much ideal, actually. "If you keep your hands to yourself, people don't even know you're on a date. And, you don't have to explain what's going on when your mom answers the door and I'm carrying a pie."

Chad shook his head. "The perk of joining this program already in progress, Ryan, as that you've totally missed all of that drama. Been there, done that. We've freaked out, laughed, cried, doubted myself, and freaked out again. Mostly me, not so much my parents, actually. At least, not that they let me hear. I'll tell you all about it sometime."

Ryan smiled. "I'd like that. What about Troy?"

Chad sighed. "If he wasn't so oblivious, he would have figured it out already and I could avoid this entire awkward conversation. Or, at least the first part of it, anyway. It's getting to the point where I'm tempted just to pass him a note in homeroom or something. "

Ryan laughed. "You mean, " _Hey Troy, I'm gay. Do you still want to be my best friend? Yes or No? Check the box."_?"

Chad beamed. "Great idea. I think I'll do that."

As they started walking towards where Ryan's car was parked, Ryan felt Chad's fingers tangle with his own. Lightly, as if he was making it easy for Ryan to pull his hand away.

They reached Ryan's car and Ryan found himself hesitating by the door, leaning back against it. When he felt Chad's fingers tighten around his, he smiled and kissed Chad on the mouth. Quickly, just in case he'd overstepped. He didn't pull back, however, when Chad kissed him again.

He tensed up, when he heard a voice calling Chad's name. His brain was fuzzy enough that he didn't recognize the voice coming from behind him. Chad, for his part, just started laughing against Ryan's mouth, but didn't pull back, just looked over Ryan's shoulder.

"This is um...." Okay, so that was Troy's voice. Troy's somewhat confused voice.

Chad nodded and stood his ground. "Yup."

"Okay," Troy looked like he was thinking hard about this. "Since when?"

"Tuesday. Well, this time," Chad let his arm fall casually over Ryan's shoulders.

Troy paused, seemingly at a loss of what to say. "Okay. Um. Right."

"We still friends, Bolton?" Chad's voice was nonchalant but his posture was tense.

"Always," Troy replied.

"Cool." Chad nodded.

"So.... One on one? My place, tomorrow after lunch? Dad's barbequing." It was probably the reason Troy had come looking for Chad after rehearsal anyway, but now he was holding the invitation between them like a sort of peace offering.

"I'll be there," Chad replied, with a beaming smile.

"Cool." Troy nodded. "See you tomorrow."

"Definitely."

Ryan kept his eye on Chad who kept his eye on Troy while he walked back towards his car. When Troy disappeared behind a corner, Chad finally turned and looked at Ryan. "So, um. That went well."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "You could say that. You could also say that Troy might be totally clueless, but you probably couldn't ask for a better best friend, either. Though, you could have maybe dropped this on him with a little more warning. Were you trying to kill him?"

Chad laughed. "Yeah. I've been pretty lucky these last few days. So...." he trailed off, his fingers twisting together. "Movie?"

Ryan grinned. "6:00?"

Chad nodded. "I'll be home by 5:30. So, any time. And, hey, why don't you forget the pizza and I'll make us some grilled cheese sandwiches in the toaster oven?"

Ryan burst out laughing. "Deal." That sounded, actually, kind of perfect.

Chad laughed. "If you forget the pie, however, I'm sending you back for it."

Ryan nodded solemnly. "Trust me. I wouldn't dare. Any particular requests?"

"Surprise me." Chad said, giving Ryan a quick kiss on the mouth before turning to jog across the parking lot waving at where Zeke, and his ride, were waiting.

* ~ * ~ *

 **Movie Night – Chad**

Chad was just about to head out the side entrance of the school to where Zeke and Jason were waiting to give him a ride home when he saw Ryan wandering around outside the front of the school. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and called Ryan.

"Hey Chad, what's up?" Ryan asked. Chad could see him digging through his backpack, becoming more and more frustrated.

"Come over." Chad meant that to be a question, not really the desperate request it seemed to come out as.

"Movie night?" Ryan asked.

"Kinda. Hey, Ryan, your keys are in the front pocket of your bag. You put them there at the start of rehearsal," Chad said, giving away that he was watching Ryan from where he stood. Ryan clued in right away and he stopped and looked around.

"Where are you?" Chad watched Ryan looking for him all around the campus. Chad stepped out the front door and waved at Ryan to get his attention.

Ryan pulled his phone away from his ear and Chad heard the line go dead.

Chad flipped his phone closed and walked over to Ryan, grinning.

"So, what's Taylor got in store for us tonight?" The movie. Right.

Chad shrugged. He hadn't thought that far ahead. "Actually, I didn't ask her tonight."

Ryan stopped. "Just us?"

Chad nodded and held his breath.

"Who's bringing the pizza then?"

The question was so out-of-left-field that Chad let out his breath with a laugh to cover his nerves. It was stupid of him not to consider that maybe Ryan didn't want to or that maybe this was a stupid idea or maybe... "Well, I could ask Troy to bring it, but then he'd probably try to stay and eat it." Chad paused. "Did you want me to invite, like, Troy and Gabi or something? Because I can. I mean, you can ask your sister or Kelsi and I could call Zeke and –"

"Chad?" Ryan interrupted, bringing Chad's racing thoughts to a sudden halt.

"Yeah?"

"You pick the movie. I think I can manage to bring the pizza. You don't need to invite our entire homeroom. Unless you want to." Ryan smiled over at him and Chad relaxed. "I'll even bring desert."

Chad grinned over at him. Okay, so maybe not such a stupid idea. "Yeah?"

"Chad, we could do this somewhere less threatening. Like, we could go to the movies," Ryan suggested. Chad thought that maybe he should have thought of that. It was the normal thing to do. His brain seemed to be having problems lately with remembering the normal way of doing things. "If you keep your hands to yourself," Ryan continued, "people don't even know you're on a date. And, you don't have to explain what's going on when your mom answers the door and I'm carrying a pie."

Chad smiled. At least he was prepared for this part of the conversation. "The perk of joining this program already in progress, Ryan, as that you've totally missed all of that drama. Been there, done that. We've freaked out, laughed, cried, doubted myself, and freaked out again. Mostly me, not so much my parents, actually. At least, not that they let me hear. I'll tell you all about it sometime." He meant it. Coming out to his family had been far more traumatic in his head than it had been in reality. Which was good. Since, for a while there he'd pretended that he'd made a mistake and was actually totally straight, so he'd had to come out to them a second time when he'd changed his mind back.

Ryan smiled. "I'd like that. What about Troy?"

Chad sighed. "If he wasn't so oblivious, he would have figured it out already and I could avoid this entire awkward conversation. Or, at least the first part of it, anyway. It's getting to the point where I'm tempted just to pass him a note in homeroom or something. " It wasn't like he thought Troy would have a problem with it or anything. It just hadn't needed to come up so far and it was one of those things that was just _such a Big Deal_ to have a conversation about that he just hadn't managed to find a time. He couldn't really slip it in between, "Hey, pass the ball" and "Did you do last night's English homework?"

Ryan laughed. "You mean, " _Hey Troy, I'm gay. Do you still want to be my best friend? Yes or No? Check the box."_?"

Chad beamed. "Great idea. I think I'll do that." It was much more to the point than the versions he'd been imagining.

Chad followed Ryan across the parking lot and when they were halfway to where Ryan's car was parked, Chad reached over and took Ryan's hand. It sent a happy thrill up his spine, but he kept his hold loose, just in case he'd overstepped.

Ryan hadn't let go of his hand by the time they'd reached his car and Chad felt his grip tightening a little bit. It was then that Ryan grinned at him and kissed him. He pulled away quickly and Chad just smiled and leaned in and kissed him again, smiling into the kiss when Ryan kissed him back.

He didn't hear the voice the first time it called, but he felt Ryan go tense against him and he looked up, over Ryan's shoulders. Over Ryan's shoulder, Chad found himself staring at Troy. Smiling nervously, he pulled back from Ryan just enough to give him a clear line of sight to Troy.

"This is um...." Troy sounded confused.

Chad nodded and started praying for this conversation to be over faster. "Yup."

"Okay," Troy was looking between Chad and Ryan, processing what was going on. "Since when?"

"Tuesday. Well, this time," Chad dropped his arm across Ryan's shoulders.

Troy paused. "Okay. Um. Right."

"We still friends, Bolton?" Chad was starting to feel a little bit lightheaded and he really wished there was somewhere to sit down, but he fought hard to keep his voice steady. He really should have thought about the realities of having a potentially life-changing conversation in the middle of his high school's parking lot.

"Always," Troy replied.

Chad nodded and felt every muscle in his body instantly relax. "Cool."

"So.... One on one? My place, tomorrow after lunch? Dad's barbequing." And, that was apparently all there was to that. He and Troy and basketball. Just like always.

"I'll be there," Chad promised, grinning so hard that he was sure his face was going to hurt later.

"Cool." Troy nodded. "See you tomorrow."

"Definitely." Chad nodded and watched Troy walk back to his car.

Ryan kept his eye on Chad who kept his eye on Troy while he walked back towards his car. When Troy disappeared behind a corner, Chad turned and looked at Ryan. "So, um. That went well."

Ryan rolled his eyes at Chad and Chad couldn't really blame him. He wondered if Taylor had gotten around to making that t-shirt for him, yet.

"You could say that. You could also say that Troy might be totally clueless, but you probably couldn't ask for a better best friend, either. Though, you could have maybe dropped this on him with a little more warning. Were you trying to kill him?" Ryan grinned over at him.

Chad laughed. "Yeah. I've been pretty lucky these last few days." Which was kind of the understatement of the century, but still. "So...." Chad began, twisting his fingers together. "Movie?"

Ryan grinned at him and Chad felt himself grin back. "6:00?"

Chad nodded. "I'll be home by 5:30. So, any time." He looked over at Ryan and had a kind of silly idea. "And, hey, why don't you forget the pizza and I'll make us some grilled cheese sandwiches in the toaster oven?"

Ryan burst out laughing, which was exactly the reaction that Chad had been hoping for. "Deal."

Chad laughed. "If you forget the pie, however, I'm sending you back for it." He narrowed his eyes jokingly at Ryan.

Ryan nodded solemnly. "Trust me. I wouldn't dare. Any particular requests?"

Chad looked across the parking lot and saw Zeke, his ride, waiting for him in his borrowed car. He gave Ryan a quick kiss on the mouth before turning to jog across the parking lot waving at Zeke, who he could see was laughing at him. He'd apologize for being late, but somehow, he figured Zeke would understand.

* ~ * ~ *

 _-fin-_


End file.
